Waiting on the waves

Chapter 50

Mike's POV

I watched Ainsley and Grace run off to chat on the hammock, and I reached to turn on the grill.

Derek threw me a beer, as we sat down while the grill heated up.

"So how is she?" He asked.

"Not great. She is trying to stay strong but I know she is scared." I said, looking down.

"Has anything happened...like with her cancer?" He asked.

My breathing quickened, but I gathered my composure. "Yah. Her cancer has spread to her lungs." I whispered.

Derek put a hand on my shoulder.

"So how long?" He asked.

"They don't really know. Four months, maybe more, maybe less." I said. Derek sighed, and I got up to put the burgers on.

"I'm a twin." Derek said, after a long silence.

"What?" I said, confused.

"I had a twin brother named Anthony. We were identical twins." He said quietly.

"What happened to him?" I asked, noticing his use of past tense.

"He was diagnosed with osteosarcoma when we were 14 years old. He had just made the marching band." He said. He paused for a while, then continued. "When we were 16, I was with him at his chemotherapy, and he asked me if I would be his wingman at this stupid dance at school. We only went to homecoming, all the other ones were weird. But for some reason, he wanted to go so bad. I had to say yes. I saw that smile on his face and I melted. We snuck out of the hospital that day to get him a tux. He got so dressed up, and he was so excited. It was the first time in a long time that he wasn't sick or in pain. All signs of cancer seemed to disappear. So we went to this dance, and had a blast. He wasn't shy like usual, and he was just having the time of his life. After the dance, we went for ice cream and then to our favorite place to watch the stars. We ended up falling asleep on the beach, and when I woke up, he was dead." Derek said, tears streaming down his face. "That was why he wanted to go to that stupid dance. I found a sticky note in his suit pocket that said:
"Thanks for such a great life. Also, thanks for dressing up with me tonight. I wanted to look good when I met Jesus."

He had his head in his hands.

"That's incredible. He was lucky to have a brother like you." I said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Sorry for dumping that on you. I just thought you should know." He said.

"No, man, I'm glad you told me. It means a lot to me." I said.

Then we finished the burgers and went down to join the girls.